M
MentalDisabldLst
Guest
So, amidst all the nostalgia for the 2004 ALCS, I was looking over the B-Ref page for the series and the teams, and I noticed something I should have remembered - although the MFY were 101-61 that year and won the division handily, their Pythagorean record was only 89-73, an incredible +12 overperformance from their fundamentals. Was that the bigger paper tiger the Red Sox had ever taken apart? I looked into it, and in fact they WERE the biggest overperformers that the Sox had ever defeated, only fractionally edging the 2008 Angels.
The question I had then was, "OK, so which was the best team the Red Sox have ever defeated?". I went and got a bunch more info on those teams, and figured I'd put the results up and put it to a poll for SoSH to kick around. Was it John McGraw's 1912 NY Giants? The 105-win 2004 Cardinals? Last year's Tigers? Do we weight those teams' full regular seasons more heavily, or the momentum they had coming into our series against them?
...I was also surprised to learn that the Red Sox are 19-13 all-time in playoff series, though we've also dropped all 3 one-game playoffs we've been in. Even at our low point after 2003, we were only 9-10 all-time, buoyed by winning the first 5 WS we played in. Since 2003, the Sox are an incredible 10-3 in postseason series. Golden age, indeed.
The question I had then was, "OK, so which was the best team the Red Sox have ever defeated?". I went and got a bunch more info on those teams, and figured I'd put the results up and put it to a poll for SoSH to kick around. Was it John McGraw's 1912 NY Giants? The 105-win 2004 Cardinals? Last year's Tigers? Do we weight those teams' full regular seasons more heavily, or the momentum they had coming into our series against them?
...I was also surprised to learn that the Red Sox are 19-13 all-time in playoff series, though we've also dropped all 3 one-game playoffs we've been in. Even at our low point after 2003, we were only 9-10 all-time, buoyed by winning the first 5 WS we played in. Since 2003, the Sox are an incredible 10-3 in postseason series. Golden age, indeed.